Autistic Recovery? An Analysis and Critique of the Empirical Evidence on the Early Intervention Project

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Abstract
The Early Intervention Project (EIP) is a discrete-trial treatment program for young, high-functioning children with autism that claims to provide recovery of normal functioning in almost one half of the cases and lead to substantial improvements in an additional 42% of cases. Many school districts across the country are being asked and sued by parents to provide the EIP for a period of 2 to 3 years. We evaluate the EIP according to threats to experimental validity—namely, internal, external, and construct validities. The EIP also is evaluated with respect to treatment integrity issues, which pose threats to all types of experimental validity. Sufficient threats to the experimental validity of the EIP prevent unqualified endorsement of it as a validated treatment for children with autism. The most relevant and serious threats to validity for school districts are those of external validity. Given the background, training, resources/supports, and supervision provided in the original EIP investigation, it probably cannot be exported to school districts with fidelity and is unlikely to produce results similar to those claimed by the EIP authors (Lovaas, 1987, 1993; McEachin, Smith, & Lovaas, 1993; Smith, McEachin, & Lovaas, 1993). School districts are advised to consider the experimental nature of the EIP program before agreeing to its adoption for any children with autism and to examine other intervention alternatives.